


far beyond fury

by AutumnSouls



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: F/F, Pre-Femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25584649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutumnSouls/pseuds/AutumnSouls
Summary: Ellie collapses while following Abby to the boats. Abby's there to help.
Relationships: Abby & Ellie (The Last of Us), Abby/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 225





	far beyond fury

The gunfire at the resort had stopped. Ellie hadn’t exactly left many Rattlers for the escaped prisoners to finish. Though it seemed their destruction came at the cost of the remainder of her health and strength. One woman army, at last brought to her knees in the cold sand. 

This would not be a terrible place to die, if it were not so dark and cloudy. Santa Barbara was beautiful in the day, when it was clear and sunny and there wasn’t a stench of death in the air. As it was now, what a shitty place to finally collapse. 

Ellie fell sideways and closed her eyes. She hadn’t even killed Abby. She couldn’t. This whole trip had ruined her, put her beyond desolation, and then, ironically, resulted in her  _ saving _ Abby. Ellie let out a weak laugh, then immediately grimaced as her side flared up in pain. She couldn’t believe she had left Dina and J.J. for this, for death on a miserable beach shadowed by the evening fog’s gloom. 

Then someone touched her arm, wrapping their fingers around her sunburnt skin with care she did not feel she deserved. 

“Hey... Ellie?”

She opened her eyes. Abby crouched beside her, a weary and sad expression across her dirty and bruised face. Ellie couldn’t bring herself to speak. Exhaustion weighed heavily on her, smothering the rage that had once wanted to tear this woman apart, her and her friends and her whole fucking militia. And now here they were, broken, the both of them, beyond the old wrath that had once fueled them. 

Then Ellie was pulled up, her arm thrown across Abby’s shoulders to keep her up. Ellie hissed in pain, clutching the wound above her waist, and Abby moved to her other side, using her left arm instead to avoid irritating the injury. 

Ellie couldn’t fucking stand it, the thought and care this woman was showing her despite everything. 

“I came here,” said Ellie as they began walking, “to kill you.”

Abby stopped, and closed her eyes as she tilted her head upward to sigh. “I’m not doing this.”

Ellie nodded weakly. “Yeah,” she said hoarsely. “I just... I want to go home.”

And then, before Ellie could protest, Abby slid her backpack off her and scooped her up in her arms like she had with Lev. Ellie didn’t know how she still had the strength; though she supposed she herself must’ve weighed nothing, especially now without her guns.

“Bag’s got food, and medicine,” said Ellie, her head on Abby’s shoulder which had once been so large. “Water too. Give it to the kid. You two can have it.”

Abby didn’t say anything. She only swallowed hard and put Ellie into the boat — the same boat the kid was in. Then she disappeared for a moment, and came back with Ellie’s backpack, putting it next to her and pulling her own leg onto the wood. 

For a moment she struggled, looking almost ready to fall backward, but Ellie reached out and held her wrist, holding her steady. The two held each other’s gaze for a moment, though it felt like an eternity. Using the little strength Ellie had, she helped Abby safely into the boat. 

“I’m trusting you,” said Abby, not looking at her. Then, much quieter, “Don’t make me regret it.” 

There was an unsaid  _ please _ in her tone, almost desperate. Ellie supposed she feared for Lev’s safety. She wondered what Abby thought of her; whether she was afraid of her. Ellie had wanted her to feel that way before, in Seattle, to feel as though an unstoppable predator was hunting her, slaughtering her friends along the way. Ellie knew that kind of terror, had felt it back when David was something to be afraid of. 

A sudden urge to sob came onto her. She had once  _ relished _ the thought of Abby’s fear, and now she felt sickened at the thought, sickened that someone would ever think she would kill a child. 

The emotion must’ve shown on her face, for Abby asked, “You need anything?” 

Ellie shook her head, closing her eyes tight against the burning tears threatening to spill. She wanted Abby to stop looking at her as if she actually cared, as if she felt any sort of empathy for her, Ellie, her friends’ killer. But all she said was, “Let’s just go.”

The boat’s engine roared to life and the boat was moving, leaving behind the place Abby had spent several long months in, that Ellie had painted with so much blood. Nobody spoke until night had unfurled fully and the fire of the resort was no longer visible. 

“Will they come after us?” said Abby. “The Rattlers,” she added when Ellie looked over. 

“No,” said Ellie, turning back to look into the night sky. “I killed them all.”

There was a moment of silence. 

“Just you?” said Abby, sounding not wholly disbelieving but rather unsure. “Sounded like there were more, like a war was happening.”

Ellie shrugged as best she could. “I do that.” 

An unexpected laugh came from Abby, small and weak but laughter all the same. 

  
  



End file.
